INTENDED DESTINATION

Failure is life’s way to show you that the path you are on might not be the one you were intended to take.

Failure can be shameful and humiliating. It causes us to doubt ourselves and our abilities. It can lead us on the never-ending road of ‘only if-then’. ‘Only if I’d tried harder, then I would have succeeded.’ But that kind of rationalising has a tendency to lead us into a downward spiral which is far from productive. Instead, we should look for the hidden message. The sign that we need to return to the fork in the road and take the other path. The one we rejected as we saw little promise of it getting us where we need to be.

Sometimes we overthink things to the point of where we justify our journey. We fear the failure of giving up. Of being vulnerable and exposed. We believe that the failure defines us when in fact it provides a change of direction. A shift in thought.

That’s not to say it doesn’t hurt when failure crosses our path, as it most certainly does. But being able to recover from such a setback, no matter how minor, shows courage and resilience. The courage to move past the obstacles and find meaning in the message we’ve been given.

Sometimes success can lead to a false sense of direction. Of the belief that we are on the right path when we needed to turn back some time ago. The challenge then lies in our ability to turn adversity into prosperity. Failure into success. To enjoy the journey we are on. To trust that we will get to our intended destination.